jack95

For anyone who is playing in the lower leagues, striker Jordan Cook has been an absolutely phenomenal signing for me. On loan from Sunderland, he's got six goals in seven games and has spear headed my Mansfield side's revival at the end of the season. We started off well,had a difficult winter, and now with a few minor tactical changes we've shot into the play off places and have booked ourselves a spot in the FA Trophy final. Bizarrely, I've had this game for nearly two months, and this would be the first full season I've got through should I make it through the next month and a bit.

I used to love John Motson but I think you can hardly call him the best commentator now when he very, very rarely does live matches, if ever. I don't have Sky so I couldn't comment over there, but on BBC and ITV I think Steve Wilson, Simon Brotherton, John Murray and John Champion have good voices for it. Also, if Keys and Gray genuinely believe the ability to decipher the offside rule lies in the penis, they don't even deserve to be anywhere near a football TV show.

I'm doing something similar with Aston Villa, attempting to be like Man City ratcheted up to 11. I feel guilty because I know my success is just built on buying players rather than actual merit, but it's just so fun. Agbonlahor is in insane form, Ciprian Marica from Stuttgart is looking to be an ace signing, I've essentially revamped the reserves and brought in stacks of young talent my backroom staff recommended, and in the summer I've got Roberto Carlos, Deco, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Andriy Shevchenko all arriving. Sadly the only competition I'm in contention for now is the Europa League, out of the League Cup and FA Cup, but I'm quietly confident about winning that one. Also, going 5-1 down against Chelsea, pulling it back to 5-4 in the space of ten minutes thanks to an Agbonlahor hat trick, and then not being able to go on and get the damn equaliser was one of the most frustrating things I have ever, ever done in this series.

Without question the Football World Cup. I just love everything about it, from lolling around on a hot summer's day watching Algeria and Slovenia battle it out, to going all patriotic for one month of the year when England play. I can just get so engrossed in it as well- the Ghana-Uruguay match from this year was just so dramatic it was unbelievable, I got more into Ghana then you could imagine considering I have no connections there, and I almost cried when they lost on the penalty shoot out. Then take into account the surprises you get every tournament, like North Korea out playing Brazil, and Nigeria and South Korea inexplicably putting on the game of the tournament, and the World Cup just becomes unmissable for me. Plus, I'll always have fond memories in 2002 when France were playing Senegal. I wasn't watching the match for some reason, and it took me forever for my Dad to convince me that Senegal had actually won. What a great year that was for the World Cup. Football is pretty much the only sport I'm seriously into unless you count wrestling, so it's no surprise that most of the other events are football related. Last day of the English Premier League is always great fun, and both the Champions League and European Championships I enjoy immensely, though not on the level of the World Cup. I also think the African Cup of Nations is fantastic, but only if most of the tournament is shown on the BBC and not somewhere unreachable for me like Eurosport. It's not the same if I don't have a nation like Benin to get behind. I used to be seriously into Formula One so any race in the rain where one of the teams from the back of the field would charge up and win was great, but I've gone of it in the last few years, though I like to watch the title decider if possible. I also enjoy Wimbledon and the Summer Olympics in small doses.

Even though I know as a Charlton fan I should rub my hands with glee at the prospect of Bournemouth slipping down the table, I'm still disappointed to hear that Howe could leave. I've always admired his loyalty and commitment to the club, and while obviously he's blameless for leaving to a big club like Burnley, I would have liked to have seen how far he could have taken them. Speaking of the Addicks, Chris Powell looks set to be appointed our new boss. Powell was a great player for us, but personally I wanted someone with more experience than a caretaker manager spell at Leicester. Let's see what he can do.

Damn, nasty mistake from Ben Foster, and he's had a good game in my opinion. This is turning into a real cracker.

Not if you're a Charlton fan like me who was desperate for him.

I think £10 million was all I had left because I blew the rest of my transfer budget on Lukas Podolski (who has been a great pick up for me, if a little overpriced.) What really pissed me off was seeing Chelsea take him for I think £5.5 million after all the money I'd thrown at them.

Grrr. As Inter Milan (I got sacked as Blackburn boss, which was annoying but inevitable, so I decide to be a glory hunter) I bid all the way up to 10 million pounds for him as cover for Milito and Eto'o. Villareal kept rejecting...then offered him to a whole host of top European clubs for about 5 million, by which point I'd given up and bought in Roque Santa Cruz, who might as well be invisible for all the impact he's made. Now I wish I'd kept on the hunt for him.

After cycling through games at pretty much every team in the entire database, I finally found a career I was interested in with Portsmouth, but a bug that stopped me from adding substitutes to the team, and then just stopped me from playing the match, forced the save game back to the beginning of the season. I set up a new career as Blackburn, and finally I've found a really fantastic game that isn't crashing or anything. The only issue is I'm veering towards the sack after a terrible run of form that's included a 3-2 defeat to Wolves when it could have been 5-0 to them, and a lifeless 2-1 defeat to Wigan. Things were rounded off with a 2-1 defeat to Bolton. 1-0 and playing terribly, I told them that they had to win at half time and we turned it around, Kalinic popping up early in the half with a great header to level. We pushed and pushed and pushed for the rest of the game for the winner, but got undone on the counter attack by Klasnic. I felt like crying. I'm holding onto my job by the virtue of some impressive performances in holding Man United and Chelsea to draws, and a League Cup run that's taken me to the Quarter Finals, where we'll meet...Bolton. If we don't turn things around soon, I think I'm in trouble.

Hodgson needs to resign if he wants to keep any dignity whatsoever. I will always remain steadfast that Roy Hodgson is a good manager, but I will also always say that Hodgson, like Sam Allardyce for example, can't handle the pressure at a big club. Sam failed spectacularly at Newcastle back when they still could potentially challenge for Europe, and Hodgson has failed spectacularly at Liverpool in much the same manner. Yet there's no denying, while Big Sam annoys me with his style of football and arrogance, he did a fantastic job at Bolton and Blackburn, and in the same vein Hodgson has done a terrific job at Fulham (which everyone except for the people on this board seems to have forgotten about, despite it only being a season ago) and also with some of the better clubs in Scandinavian football. I'd give Houllier, Ancelotti and Grant a couple more games before wielding the axe, but Hodgson has to go and has to go now. However, I'd be more than happy, unlikely though it is, to see him turn up at my club, Charlton, because he could do a good job there.

So, obviously, Crystal Palace have sacked George Burley, which I think is understandable. What's weird is that apparently they're going to make an approach for Steve Coppell. Coppell has done a good job at Crystal Palace in the past, but I think he proved his head isn't in the game by bailing on Bristol City after three months and two games. If he takes the job and is committed you can't much better a choice, but in their situation can they really afford to take such a risk? The other manager sacking that I'd like to comment on is Phil Parkinson being axed from the Charlton post. As a Charlton fan, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Admittedly Parkinson hadn't achieved what we might have wanted from him, but at least he was solid and reliable and certainly improved on the reigns of Dowie, Reed and Pardew in my opinion. Of course, if we get a good appointment I'll be satisfied, but personally I would have given him until the end of the month, let him have the big game against Tottenham at the weekend, and then see if he can improve results against Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Southampton. Meanwhile, Walsall have sacked Chris Hutchings. Has that man ever done anything positive as a manager? His accomplishments seem to be "riding on the coat tails of Paul Jewell."

This was unwrapped this morning and is now sitting happily on my laptop. I tinkered with a game this morning at Lincoln, and already have had a weird 3-3 draw with Bury. We were 3-0 up inside 15 minutes, every goal coming from outside the area, only to gradually capitulate as I became more and more defensive in one of the most maddening second halves I've ever played. I can see this game consuming my year.

So.......having looked at Partizan Belgrade's progress in the Champions League, I think it actually is a foregone conclusion that Arsenal are going through tonight. I'll be more interested in whether Chelsea can keep their 100% record in the Champions League after their recent wretched form. Elsewhere, Roma are effectively through, and I'm sure they can get the necessary point against CFR Cluj. Disappointingly enough, that would ensure there are no real upset qualifications from the Group Stage.......

Is that really Premier League quality though? When you look at the other 19 managers in the premier league, except for at a push Grant or McCarthy, every one of them could have potentially done just as good a job and probably better at Southampton than Pardew. I can understand that Pardew was under pressure with the boost in finances, but at least that's a positive sort of pressure, rather than administration and a six game losing streak worries. If he can't crack it at the 3rd tier in those circumstances, does he have that much of a chance at Newcastle when 95% of the fans are opposed to his appointment, and know he was only brought in because he's bosom buddies with Ashley? To be fair, everyone is getting caught up in the hullaballoo of the Hughton departure, me very much included. Pardew has had success at Reading and to a degree West Ham. But, in 2011 (nearly) can we honestly say he isn't the weakest manager in the premier league, and even if we can somehow say that he isn't, is he seriously a better man for the job than Hughton?

He may have his critics, but in a battle of tactical wits between former Inter Milan manager, Scandinavian Football mastermind and two time European finalist Roy Hodgson and the man who took my club, Charlton, down (though that was more thanks to Dowie and Reed to be fair), Southampton absolutely nowhere despite, as Pesci mentioned, having more than enough funds, and hasn't done anything positive since 2006, Alan Pardew, I know who I'm backing,

Pardew is just the most weird appointment. It explains a lot that he and Ashley are apparently good friends, because otherwise Pardew would be my 19th choice appointment, Heck, I'd have gone for Joe Kinnear over Pardew.

A nice win for Liverpool last night. I have a massive amount of respect for Hodgson so hopefully he can keep the recovery going, he's not that far from a Champions League place any more. On a Newcastle note, after reading his interview in 4-4-2 this month, am I the only one hoping and to a degree, giving the buffoonery of sacking Chris Hughton in the first place, believing that Diego Maradona might get the Newcastle job?

Hughton deserved to go. Apart from steadying the ship of a side in free fall, storming to the Championship, thrashing Aston Villa 6-0, beating arch rivals Sunderland 5-1, getting results against league champions Chelsea, earning the respect of the fans, and going about it all with a completely professional attitude and playing some pretty decent football, what did he ever accomplish? Sarcasm aside, this is disgraceful, but Hughton shouldn't find it hard to find another job. I reckon he'd fit in well at West Ham if Avram Grant goes over the precipice, or Wigan if their struggles continue. Who is Ashley going to realistically find as a better replacement?

A quick question since I'm no good with technology- if the Demo worked fine for me, do I need to have to go out and buy some sort of graphics card to get 3D to work in the actual game? The specifications indicate I need some sort of graphics thingy to get the thing to work properly, but it said that for the Demo as well and I had no problems.....sorry if this has already been answered or there's some sort of seperate technical specifications thread, but if anyone knows it would be a great help......

Correct.

Since nobody has got an answer in six days, I hope people don't mind me jumping in here. If they do, feel free to ignore this question. What was unusual about Hector Castro, the Uruguayan striker who scored Uruguay's fourth in the 1930 Football/Soccer World Cup Final?

Rassen...frassen....Charlton Athletic. How in the heck did we lose 4-3 to Shrewsbury after being 3-0 up? It was entertaining as heck, but also completely maddening. At least there were some other upsets about, such as Oxford thrashing Bristol Rovers 6-1 and Morecambe overcoming Coventry. What a frustrating way to lose though.

Solid win for Charlton today aside from Jose Semedo getting sent off. Off to Shrewsbury for the League Cup on Tuesday which should be an interesting clash. Looking on the Championship as a neutral, I'd love to see Doncaster go up, they have a good attacking mentality. Cardiff probably deserve to go up after coming so close for so long. A lot of my family are Coventry fans, and I occasionally go to games with them, so it would be nice to watch some premier league football. I have soft spots for Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Stevenage Borough as well.

As a fellow Worcester guy, last season was a disgrace from Worcester City. We went from a decent enough mid-table side in the BS North, then got moved to the BS South (generally thought of as the weaker division) and managed to go down (we were saved by someone else getting relegated for financial issues but we still finished in the drop zone). Unless we improve we could end up in the bottom three again, especilly ith no Weymouth to prop up the divsion (though IIRC we lost to Weymouth last season) I know, it was absolutely awful. I'd been an avid fan for a fair while, but my spirit just got gradually broken throughout the season. It's a miracle we're still at this level. I think Carl Heeley did quite well when he took over though, and the 4-1 on the last day of the season was a positive sign, but it could well be a long hard season again. Carl Heeley did well enough I reckon, well worth giving him a full season to work with. The link up with Birmingham City could help a lot this season (if we get a few good youngsters). Though the main thing on WCFC's future is a stadium move I think. St. George's Lane is, to be brutally honest, a ancient stadium in dire need of renovating but the cost of it would be too high for a side at Worcester's level. Last I heard they had agreed to sell St. George's Lane to fund a new stadium in Nunnery Wood with B&Q, though they had planning permission turned down but were appealing when I moved away to Ireland. I used to sell programmes on match days when I was 15/16 so have a fondness for the old stadium but it's long been time to move away. Though this season will be the one where Shabhir Khan become a rock at the back (no the fact I was friends with him at school, Christopher Whitehead, isnt making me biased at all ) I'll miss St Georges Lane, it's a five minute walk from my house so on a purely selfish level it'll be a pain. But I've been going there since I was four years old, and even though it's a run down tip it's got it's quaint charm about it. I always liked Shabir Khan, good solid defender, lot of passion as well, which was another thing lacking this year. I still hope for a half decent mid table position this year, and it's good to have the local derbies back in the Blue Square North, but it'll be a case of wait and see.